The United Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the launch of a CBDC task force this week, bringing together the Bank of England and Her Majesty’s Treasury to coordinate the exploration of a potential central bank digital currency. Depending on the feedback received from various areas of industry, academia, and civil society, the task force will advise the Bank of England on the future rollout (or not) of what would be a digital version of the pound. Antony Welfare, executive director of enterprise at NEM, is a member of the Whitechapel Think Tank and the Finance Payments Working Group, both …

Her Majesty’s Treasury and the Bank of England have begun preliminary central bank digital currency studies that could result in the creation of a national digital currency. In a document published by HM Treasury, the exchequer announced the creation of a CBDC task force in collaboration with the United Kingdom’s central bank. Sir Jon Cunliffe, deputy governor of the Bank of England, and Katharine Braddick, director general of financial services at HM Treasury, will co-chair the task force. According to the terms of reference document, the task force will synergize the efforts of all relevant statutory bodies in the U.K. …

In October 2019, unknown hackers infiltrated a Canadian insurance company by installing the malware BitPaymer, which encrypted the firm’s data and IT systems. The hackers demanded a ransom of $1.2 million be paid in Bitcoin (BTC) in return for the decryption software needed for the firm to regain access to its systems. The firm’s United Kingdom-based insurer — known only as AA — arranged to pay the BTC ransom, and the firm’s systems were back up and running within a few days. Meanwhile, AA started the process of seeking legal avenues to recover the BTC obtained by the hackers. It …

The Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger is jumping into the nonfungible token craze to help independent music venues that have been adversely affected by the pandemic. In an announcement from the music legend on Thursday, Jagger said he had started a 24-hour auction on Nifty Gateway featuring a nonfungible token, or NFT, based on a new song with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl. The digital piece designed by artist Oliver Latta, also known as Extraweg, features a loop of a figure running through two human heads, with Grohl and Jagger’s “Eazy Sleazy” song playing in the background. “The 30-second …

Brevan Howard, a United Kingdom-based asset management firm, is reportedly planning to directly invest in digital assets after more than a year of exposure to the crypto space. According to a Bloomberg report, Brevan Howard Asset Management will be allocating 1.5% of the $5.6 billion in its main hedge fund to crypto — roughly $84 million. A source with knowledge of the matter said two co-founders of crypto investment firm Distributed Global, Johnny Steindorff and Tucker Waterman, would be leading Brevan Howard’s foray into crypto. The asset management firm will reportedly be focusing on “a wide range” of cryptocurrencies in …

The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority has included cryptoasset businesses under the financial crimes reporting umbrella eight months after initially announcing plans to do so. The FCA made this known via a policy statement issued on its website on Wednesday. This move comes as the country’s financial regulator has increased the number of firms required to submit annual financial crime report known as “REP-CRIM” from 2,500 to about 7,000. According to the policy statement, the FCA declared that compliance with REP-CRIM reporting was a necessary tool to enable regulators to combat money laundering activities. In its 2020/2021 business plan, the …

John Glen, the United Kingdom's financial services minister, has said that stablecoins will be the main focus of the government’s crypto regulatory activity. Glen made delivered his comments while addressing a conference organized by City & Financial Global on Tuesday, Reuters reported. For Glen, the U.K.’s decision to prioritize stablecoins over regulating the broader financial market is due to fears of monopolies emerging in the market based on the limited number of participants offering fiat-pegged cryptocurrency payment services. “There is the potential for some firms to swiftly achieve dominance and crowd out other players, due to their ability to scale …

Cryptocurrency traders — according to the findings of a new study commissioned by the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority — are a young, diverse bunch who are not always level-headed in their investment choices. The study, conducted by the international strategy consulting firm BritainThinks between mid-August 2020 and late January, was based on a sample of 517 “self-directed investors” — i.e., those who make investment decisions on their own behalf and don't seek professional financial advice. The findings indicate that 38% of those surveyed don't have a functional reason for their investment choices, giving priority instead to emotional factors such …

Major English football club Manchester City is the latest sports club to launch its own blockchain-based token to power new tools for digital fan engagement. According to an official announcement Friday, Manchester City has partnered with fan engagement platform Socios.com to launch the CITY fan token on the Chiliz blockchain. Similar to other European clubs like FC Barcelona and Juventus, Manchester City will now have an option to provide VIP rewards, club promotions, games, AR-enabled features and polls using its fan token. Stephan Cieplik, senior vice president of global partnerships sales at City Football Group, the parent company of Manchester …

Since March 1, 2020, the number of new Bitcoin ATMs installed worldwide is nearing 10,000. According to the latest data from Coin ATM Radar, the current number of machines stands at 16,835, a strong 57.5% increase, or 9,683 new machines, as compared with 7,152 last year. Back in Nov. 2020, Cointelegraph had reported a striking year-on-year increase of 80%. As previously, the vast majority of machines continue to be located in the United States, where 81% (13,699 out of 16,835 machines globally) are installed. Within the U.S., growth has been unparalleled, rising by 177% since March 1, 2020, or from …

Though investing in crypto has the potential to radically change someone’s financial situation, one HODLer is saying their actions may have actually saved someone’s life. In a Reddit post under the r/Cryptocurrency subreddit on Tuesday, a United Kingdom-based user claimed that advice they gave to a university acquaintance two years ago resulted in that person’s father being able to receive critical treatment for lung cancer. “I met a guy in the library who was looking for a particular book on cryptocurrency, I can’t remember what it was but I’m sure it was cryptocurrency for dummies or something similar,” said the …

Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bybit has appointed a new general counsel to lead the firm in its global compliance matters, and to oversee its legal team. Daniel Lim, formerly head of legal and compliance for the Singapore-based investment bank, Daiwa Capital Markets, was announced in the new role on March 9. Lim joins Bybit shortly after the exchange was forced to close down operations in the United Kingdom, following the FCA’s blanket ban on retail crypto derivatives trading. Co-founder and CEO of Bybit, Ben Zhou, said Lim was appointed to bolster the firm’s “compliance posture,” in what he sees as a …